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House of Horrors!

Dec 10, 2015, 12:00 pm

I remember that I sent a really disturbing nursery rhyme to my players a few days before the first House on Hook Street sessions, and that it was sometime around 2007. A few weeks previously, our group had one of those typical post-game "the thrill-is-gone/I've-seen-it-all/memorized-the-bestiary/bought-the-tshirt" laments that we've all felt at some point, and I recall another player boldly challenged me for something truly fresh and surprising, but using existing materials. So, I picked up the gauntlet.

House of Horrors!

Thursday, December 10, 2015

I recently got a chance to develop an adventure written by my good friend Brandon Hodge. It also turns out I got to develop an updated version of an adventure that Brandon ran for our group nearly 10 years ago.

Brandon has a solid background as a scholar of the esoteric and occult, and after he was brought on as a consultant for Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures, we knew that he'd be the best fit for an adventure that would tie in to that book. After running the idea past him, he immediately had an idea for the adventure pitch—one he knew well from years back. Since I've been friends with Brandon since high school and since I'd been a player in that adventure, it made me the best choice to develop it... and that adventure is Pathfinder Module: The House on Hook Street.

Of course, the adventure has changed from when I was with my home group back in Texas, and I think it's even better. I'll let Brandon get a few words in about the history and process.

I remember that I sent a really disturbing nursery rhyme to my players a few days before the first House on Hook Street sessions, and that it was sometime around 2007. A few weeks previously, our group had one of those typical post-game "the thrill-is-gone/I've-seen-it-all/memorized-the-bestiary/bought-the-tshirt" laments that we've all felt at some point, and I recall another player boldly challenged me for something truly fresh and surprising, but using existing materials. So, I picked up the gauntlet.

And that's how The House on Hook Street was born. The original adventure predated the Pathfinder RPG by a couple of years, but it was still set in Golarion, though in the recently debuted streets of Riddleport rather than Old Korvosa. Back then, my longtime pal Adam Daigle and I were just enthusiastic players in a couple of weekly games in Austin, and Daigle was just beginning to sniff around the industry, and trying to drag me along with him. With his encouragement, I wrote this new adventure in the Dungeon Magazine format with the intention that maybe—just maybe—I'd get it published.

And because the re-write shifted the original plot enough that it isn't spoiler material anymore, the mechanic I used to 'file off the serial numbers' of monsters involved a bloodthirsty thieves' guild using tainted potions, with transmogrifying results that let me use some of my favorite creatures in new and horrifying ways, keeping my players guessing at every turn even as I was peering menacingly from the other side of an open Monster Manual. It was part of the challenge, after all, and I just went wild: thieves who "overdosed" on tainted elixirs of hiding essentially used the stats for shadows but dragged their discarded corpses behind them, while tainted potions of gaseous form let other thieves exhale their souls as weird belker-things. Just don't ask me about the poor sap that overdosed on a tainted potion of tongues—it's way, way worse than you think, and, yes, the horrifying legacy of that encounter made its way into the final product. See if you can spot it!

My players went crazy trying to figure out what was happening, and I loved the results enough to keep the adventure in my back pocket. When Occult Adventures came along and Erik asked me to write an adventure using those materials, I knew I finally had the perfect tools to bring the greater story to life. And by shifting the setting to Korvosa, I got to revisit some of my favorite material from my friend Nick Logue and the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, and I think you'll appreciate the results!

I recently ran the rewritten adventure again as a playtest, with two members of that old group getting to revisit The House on Hook Street. Sadly, Daigle couldn't join us, and just had to deal with my constant updates and pictures of the action, some of which I've included here. I'm happy to say my players were blown away with the adventure's latest incarnation, and just as surprised with the twists and turns as their first time through. That, and there's about 50 hours of gameplay packed in between these covers, so I think you're getting your money's worth.

The occult has strange effects on some people—beware the streets of Old Korvosa!

Merisiel finds herself in a sticky situation.

Ezren drools at the prospect of plumbing the secrets of this occult library.

The Pathfinder Battles Locus Demon makes a great stand-in to bring the adventure's cover illustration to life.

What secrets lurk below?

It turns out that the cult has some nightmarish allies... but have we seen this guy somewhere before?

The inner sanctum of the house is awfully quiet... but why's Valeros so on-edge?

So, it'll be yours now. You'll get to revisit Old Korvosa and witness its transformation yourselves, and I know you'll have as much fun with it as we did. And how cool is it that after all of our years of friendship, that I get to work right alongside Daigle as my developer on an adventure he actually played in nearly a decade ago, before we even got into the biz? Pretty damned cool, if you ask me!

Brandon HodgeContributing Author

One of the things I remember from that adventure long ago, aside from being creeped out by Brandon's description of his reskinned antagonists, was getting frustrated with getting to an enemy and just hacking through the floor. (I think something might have even been on fire.) One of the things that I'll remember about this adventure is getting to work on cool and creepy material from Brandon while he sent me the aforementioned "constant updates and pictures of the action." I swear I got at least one email or text per page of adventure during the process.

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski

It was fun setting this in Korvosa, as it was a great way to show that occult elements are always lurking in the shadows, waiting for intrepid adventurers to peel back the layers and discover the esoteric bits hiding beneath. Pick up The House on Hook Street, gather your friends for adventure, and let us know how it went!

He Lives, He Dies, He Lives Again!

I have received word from the beyond, and we have a winner for our Rasputin Redesign Challenge! Look closely into my eyes, and I will share secrets with you...

He Lives, He Dies, He Lives Again!

Friday, September 25, 2015

I have received word from the beyond, and we have a winner for our Rasputin Redesign Challenge! Look closely into my eyes, and I will share secrets with you...

Redesigning Rasputin presents a multitude of challenges for those that picked up the gauntlet—not only backwards engineering a base starting point with ability scores, but also rethinking tactics, equipment, and stylistic approach. (And having to re-engineer entries to pick a winner was also challenging for the judges!) In the end, there can be only one winner, and that winner is: Iammars, with Grigori Rasputin, cult master mesmerist!

Before Combat Within the Thrice-Tenth presbytery (area H6), Rasputin enjoys the benefits of the World Engine’s unholy aura and insight bonus to his AC. Rasputin casts cloak of dreams, displacement, false life, freedom of movement, levitate and mirror image. Aside from false life, these effects are not factored into his statistics.During Combat Rasputin uses his stare to try to get his spells to stick on the PCs. He uses spells like confusion, overwhelming presence and primal regression to try to stop the PCs from acting properly. If a PC is being particularly troublesome, then they become the target of phantasmal killer.Morale On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.

Stitched Soul (Su) Rasputin’s soul is stitched to his body with threads of fate, and he clings tenaciously to life. He gains Diehard as a bonus feat. In addition, when first reduced to a number of negative hit points equal to or greater than his current Con score, Rasputin dies, but he springs back to life 1d4 rounds later as if the target of a resurrection spell. If killed a second time, the Mad Monk again comes back to life 1d6 rounds later, as if the target of a raise dead spell (upon his return, he loses 50% of his remaining unused spell slots as if they had been used to cast spells). Only after Rasputin is slain for a third time do his soul’s stitches finally unravel from his corpse, releasing his malignant spirit into the ether.

Not only did Iammars swing for the fences in his entry, he nails it with choices that recreate the encounters in "Rasputin Must Die!" (like using project image to harass the PCs). To quote Brandon's commentary, "And just as I clung to historical accuracy to get to the germ of my Rasputin, this guy goes and uses the archetype's bonus Leadership feat to get a cohort, and pulls Anna-[redacted]-Vyrubova out of the history books and inserts HER into the action. Just awesome." Of course, it would be silly to not include Anna, so here you go!

Before Combat Anna casts heroism on both herself and Rasputin, while also casting displacement, false life, heightened awareness, life bubble, mirror image, and spell resistance. Displacement, life bubble, and mirror image are not factored into her statistics. During Combat Anna attempts to do as much damage to the PCs as possible, making liberal use of quickened explode head combined with horrid wilting and psychic crush.Morale Anna fights until her contingency whisks her away, her pain overcoming her and stopping her from doing anything else.

Contingency: When Anna is brought down to 25 hit points or less, she dimension doors away.

Wheelchair Bound: Anna can only move around in her wheelchair. Her speed is reduced by 10 feet unless both hands are free.

Iammars is the winner of a custom Paizo.com avatar selected from Occult Adventures, as well as $25 in store credit! But Iammars' entry wasn't the only one that got our attention. Milo v3's reanimated medium, Rannald's reanimated medium/formless adept psychic, Charlie Bell's mesmerist, and two interpretations of the occultist class from Meloriel and Corneleus Idaho were also among our favorite entries. Implement choices for the occultists, playing up the "why can't you just stay dead" for the medium, and solid tactical choices with Rasputin's new class made selecting our finalist a worthy encounter for our judges!

Thank you so much to everybody who entered—it was a (kinetic) blast to read through them all!

He Must Die—Again!

Aug 27, 2015, 12:00 pm

The arrival of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures with its host of psychic magic and class options means new ways to tell stories for the world of Golarion (and beyond). But what about some of our older adventures, particularly one about a Very Infamous Monk? Are you ready for a design challenge?

He Must Die—Again!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The arrival of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures with its host of psychic magic and class options means new ways to tell stories for the world of Golarion (and beyond). But what about some of our older adventures, particularly one about a Very Infamous Monk? Are you ready for a Design Challenge?

When Occult Adventures first made its way through playtesting, one question I often thought was, "How could our older adventures be retold with these new options?" Being a rather large fan of Russian fairy tales and folk lore, I am quite fond of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path, so of course, I immediately gravitated towards that one to pick for this Design Challenge.

What does this mean to you? It means I have thrown the gauntlet to everybody who loves creating stat blocks, whether you're they type who spends hours poring over new archetypes, class combinations, and gear selection, or just like putting together a fun NPC for your group to face. "Pray tell, Liz, what is the rules of this duel?" you might ask.

You get to make this guy, Grigori Rasputin, but this time, using one of the new character classes from Occult Adventures.

Before Combat Within the Thrice-Tenth presbytery (area H6), Rasputin enjoys the benefits of the World Engine’s unholy aura and insight bonus to his AC. When faced with combat, Rasputin activates his ectoplasmic armor revelation and casts entropic shield, freedom of movement, levitate, moment of prescience, and true seeing. Once enemies are in sight, he casts antilife shell and spectral hand to enable him to use touch attacks beyond the field’s perimeter.During Combat Under the protection of his antilife shell, Rasputin attempts to hinder opponents with reverse gravity and waves of ecstasy and turn foes against each other with terrible remorse and murderous command, before laying waste with such deadly effects as blade barrier, blasphemy, destruction, harm, stormbolts, and unholy blight. If wounded, Rasputin casts quickened cure spells while continuing to target enemies with offensive spells.Morale On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.

Stitched Soul (Su) Rasputin’s soul is stitched to his body with threads of fate, and he clings tenaciously to life. He gains Diehard as a bonus feat. In addition, when first reduced to a number of negative hit points equal to or greater than his current Con score, Rasputin dies, but he springs back to life 1d4 rounds later as if the target of a resurrection spell. If killed a second time, the Mad Monk again comes back to life 1d6 rounds later, as if the target of a raise dead spell (upon his return, he loses 50% of his remaining unused spell slots as if they had been used to cast spells). Only after Rasputin is slain for a third time do his soul’s stitches finally unravel from his corpse, releasing his malignant spirit into the ether.

Your entry will be judged on presentation and adherence to theme, and to help me with that, I've brought in the man responsible not only for the original Pathfinder version of the Mad Monk, but was also one of the lead consultants on Occult Adventures as well: Brandon Hodge!

But what is the reward for all of your hard work? Something we've never offered before: A custom Paizo.com avatar with art selected from Occult Adventures, along with $25 in store credit. On Paizo.com, a custom avatar means either being a Paizo employee (or the subject of whim by a Paizo employee), so this is a rare opportunity for a unique avatar that nobody else has!

Now, onto the rules:

One entry per poster. Employees of Paizo, their immediate family members, and persons with whom such employees are domiciled are ineligible. Anyone who is currently employed full-time as a designer for a game company is ineligible. Anyone with a cover credit on a hardcover RPG book is ineligible. Anyone who has a design credit in 3 or more of Paizo's Pathfinder products is ineligible.

[b]----- Tactics -----[/b][b]Before Combat[/b] zzBeforeCombat[b]During Combat[/b] zzDuringCombat[b]Morale[/b] On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.